Puzzling NY Mets rumors about Luis Robert Jr. don’t make enough sense

Bob Nightengale is a must read on Sunday even if your reading begins with CTRL + F and typing the word “Mets” into the search box. The New York Mets are close to the epicenter of baseball right now and not because they managed to piece together a win versus the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday. As one of the MLB’s truest sellers, the world is revolving around them.

Nightengale had a few Mets points in his Sunday column including one tidbit about Luis Robert Jr. New York is allegedly “desperate” to trade him. A vague statement, it’s also a puzzling one.

Why does calling the Mets desperate to trade Luis Robert Jr. even mean?

How are we meant to interpret this? Robert didn’t cost the Mets much at all to acquire. Is it the money? Do they actually think they could get a lot back for him?

As a player they actually have the control over, the option being team-focused, it’s strange to see the Mets called “desperate” for anything to do with him.

To acquire Robert, the Mets essentially dumped a guy who had no role and would have been a DFA candidate this year, Luisangel Acuna. Although he is now hitting .245, it’s with one home run, a -0.5 bWAR, and .561 OPS. The Mets also traded them pitching prospect Truman Pauley who owns a 5.52 ERA in Single-A.

Not much more is at stake on the financial side. Robert will have about $8 million of his $20 million salary owed to him with a $2 million buyout for next year. Around $10 million left, this is what Steve Cohen calls “golden toilet money.”

Teams are right to be torn on whether or not Robert is the right trade deadline match. A relatively high salary for a guy who has trouble staying on the field and producing consistently enough, the label of “desperate” doesn’t seem accurate here.

Among the players the Mets should trade, Freddy Peralta might be the one whose situation deserves this wording. No easy way to bring him back and frankly zero interest, his tanking trade value could put them in a desperation situation. The same could be said for others like Kodai Senga or even Bo Bichette or Sean Manaea. Trading any of those three have their own complications although the Chicago White Sox appear to be a mild match for Manaea.

If the Mets aren’t willing to pay any of Robert’s salary, they’ll have a tough time earning back anything of great value. Cohen is apparently less likely to do so than he was in the past. The return for Robert is probably something much closer to what they’ll get for Tyrone Taylor than they ever would have believed.

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